Last week we began studying parshat Vayakhel (For more information about Vayakhel, here is a great article to check out!) and made really good juicy next steps on Rosh Pinah projects. To begin Vayakhel, we engaged with a big quadrant chart on the wall labeled “holy” on the left, “not holy” on the right, “by God” on the top and…
Category: Learning this Week
(Re)Dedication: Chanukah and Our Online Classroom
Makom @ Home celebrated Chanukah together in many creative ways! We learned that Chanukah means (re)dedication. We shared our families’ traditions about ways to celebrate: Dreidel, presents, gelt, sufganiyot Cooking and spending time with each other And playing Latkes We fry different foods Yes, we light candles Eight lights eight nights I light candles, today they’re all burned down. We…
The Holiness in Others
This week, our learners reflected on the ways our souls are absolute and part of people as a unique creation. We discussed what responsibilities come with being holy and having a soul, and empathized with the difficulties Moshe faced while communicating with Pharaoh and all of Bnei Yisrael (the Jewish people) while having a speech disability. In Garinim (kindergarteners) our…
Holy Souls In Dialogue
This week we dug deep as we discussed what holiness means and how we can tap into it. We also began considering the concept of a soul which sparked a lot of amazing learning. During Schulchanot Avodah kiddos were playing, talking, creating, and problem-solving. Two students worked together in a conversational exchange to learn about how they each thought about…
Exploring Holiness
What is holiness? Where can we notice it in the world around us? Last week the Garinim (kindergartners) jumped into an exploration of holiness with a walk to find things that made us say “wow,” a handful of activities and experiments with light, and an artistic analysis of music. Kiddos LOVED getting to play with light on Tuesday. We made…
Special Talents and Holiness!
This week we embarked upon a discussion of what holiness means. Learners shared their ideas as we unpacked this big concept: Holiness is something special. It reminds me of when we say Holy Moly Guacamole! It’s something crazy or big. It has to do with God. I think of Jewish things, like holidays. Objects can be holy. It’s holy to…
Welcoming PJDS to Makom South Philly!
What a wonderful way to kick off the month of Tevet! Seeing some familiar faces and some new faces in our brand new space at Makom South Philly was such a joy. Kiddos joined us in the morning with such ruach. We took a moment to get to know each other, sharing our names and interests before settling into snack….
The Holiness of Chanukah
Happy Chanukah! This week has been so joyous as we have gathered to light Chanukah candles as a community everyday. This week, each kevutzah reviewed the elements of the Chaunkah story and Chanukah traditions. The Garinim (kindergarten) started off last week with a brief overview of the Chanukah story, and then took a deep dive into the brachot (blessings) that…
Chanukah on S. Juniper St.
This week has been full of light and joy. We feel so blessed to have this beautiful space on S. Juniper St. to joyfully learn in, while we grow. As we gathered outside for snacktime learning this week, the excited energy was palpable. We noshed on graham crackers and apples while kiddos shared what they know about Chanukah. We use…
Torah Service, Brit Building and Driedels!
The BMitzvah Torah Service on 11/18 was a huge success. We were so grateful to be joined in community by all the family members who came in person and on Zoom! Some reflections from the proud learners about how it went: I loved it but I hate that I can’t do it again tomorrow. I like being done. It was…
Ourselves and Each Other
We returned to learning from Rabbi Hillel this week with a 3-part text from Pirkei Avot that we explored both in writing and by listening to and singing two different musical settings of the text. We thought about how we are for ourselves, for each other, and the importance of timing. The first line of the text, “If I am…
Brit Brainstorm!
It’s review week at Makom Community! We can hardly believe that we’re already a quarter of the way through our school year together. The Garinim (kindergartners) spent last week revisiting the text from our first unit and brainstorming ideas for our classroom brit (two-way promise) from those texts. Here’s some of our ideas. From Leviticus 19:17-18, “You will not hate…
Lehitraot 13th St.
We had an unexpected but welcomed day of Jewish Enrichment at our new location on S. Juniper Street this week. As we finish upon 13th street, we are saying lehitraot (goodbye for now) and gearing up for an exciting adventure at our new location. On Monday, learners were excited to spend the afternoon exploring the new space. After getting our…
BMitzvah Update!
Everyone is doing an awesome job learning to read trope and using what they already know to practice chanting their aliyot. I am really looking forward to our Torah Service next week! Continuing our exploration of tefilah in Rosh Pinah, we followed a 4 minute guided meditation by Alison Laichter, an innovator and leader in the world of Jewish meditation….
A Reflection On Different Kinds Of Love
This week, our learners dug deeper into different kinds of love. We started with this bit of text: “All love that depends on something, [when the] thing stops, [the] love stops; and [all love] that does not depend on anything, will never stop” (Pirkei Avot 5:16). In Garinim (kindergarteners), kiddos answered a few questions: What are some people or things…
(Un)conditional Love.
What a beautiful week, I am continuously amazed by your children’s thoughtful insights. This week we learned about conditional and unconditional love. Learners reflected on different kinds of love, what change means for love, and what unconditional love looks and feels like. We sat down in the yard for snack at the beginning of the week and read Pirkei Avot…
Loving Our Neighbors Because They Were Made in the Image of God
Our next text is from Bereshit about how human beings were created in the image of God, b’tzelem elohim. We brainstormed a long list of what we know about God and what God does: 🌍🌎🌏 Earth God made Earth You can’t see God. God gave us the Torah God took us out of Egypt God created and said to Moses….
How Can We Keep Ourselves & Others Safe?
Building our environments to be safe spaces for the people who enter them is important! Our learners took a pasuk (sentence) from Torah about building fences around our roofs as a jumping off point for a discussion about how we keep our bodies physically safe (Deuteronomy 22:8) as well as a pasuk from Pirkei Avot that tells us that knowing…
Olam Haba: Creating The World We Want To See
What does it mean to create our collective future (olam habah)? This week when diving into good choices and personal responsibility we considered what it means to create our best future. We thought about what we want the future to look like, and how we could approach working toward that future. As we sat around the yard at Makom students…
Special School’s Out Camps for Perelman Jewish Day School Families!
We are excited to offer camp days that align with the PJDS calendar again this year. Join us for PJDS camp! Camp will run from 8:30am-4:00pm in South Philadelphia and include many opportunities for hands-on learning, making, and exploring! Click here to enroll in PJDS camp. We will have our snacks and lunch outdoors. Please send your child warm layers….
BMitzvah Update!
This was an exciting week- we finished reading all of Vayishlach, keep growing our Hebrew Word Wall, and have begun preparing for our Torah service on 11/18. Also, so many students have mastered the first tefilah they chose to work on this year! In the last section of Vayishlach, learners reflected on some important ideas and questions: Yaakov got the…
Al Shlosha Devarim & Fun With Murals!
“Shimon Hatzadik (the righteous) said, ‘The world depends on three things to stand: Torah, connecting with something bigger than ourselves, and acts of lovingkindness’” (Pirkei Avot 1:1-2). Our Learners spent a day unpacking each of these elements, how the world depends on them, and how we can do them. The Garinim (kindergartners) explored acts of lovingkindness with a favorite book…
Acting with Love Even When We Don’t Feel Love
In Makom @ Home, we are continuing to explore loving our neighbors. We also thought about who our neighbors are and who strangers are and how we show love to each of them. One text we read from Vayikra 19:17 says: “Don’t hate your sibling in your heart. Correct your family member, but don’t do something you’ll regret. Do not…
Gemilut Chasadim & Alef-Bet Explorations
Another magical week at Makom has come and gone. We settled into this week with a spirited interest in Hebrew reading and finished it with passionate conversations about our Gemilut Chasadim (acts of loving kindness) box. Throughout the week we explored a text from Pirkei Avot 1:1-2. “Moshe received the Torah at Har Sinai (Mount Sinai) and transmitted it to…
Community, Judgement, and Communication
What might happen to both ourselves and our communities if we separate ourselves from them? This week, we explored text from Sanhedrin 37a:15 saying, “If a person makes many coins from one stamp, they are all exactly alike. But even though God created every person using the stamp of the first human, not a single one of them is exactly…
When Are We Truly Connected?
As we gathered outside for snack time learning this week, there was a sense of familiarity. The kiddos are getting comfortable with our routines and each other. This week students led each other through the expectations that we have collectively built. I asked: “during snack time learning, how many voices should we hear at a time?” The kiddos all held…
BMitzvah October Update!
We are two weeks into our first Rosh Pinah project about all things tefilah (prayer). After our exploration of tefillah gear, we have been learning about the various opinions about when communal prayer began, diving into ancient and rabbinic Jewish history. We talked about what Jewish communal worship looked like during the time of the Temples about the early…
Community and Holiness
Makom @ Home started off our Fall session exploring what community means and what is holiness. We read a text from Leviticus about Bnei Yisrael (the Jewish People) being a community and being holy because God is holy. We started off our questions thinking about who is part of the Bnei Yisrael community while they were wandering in the desert…
Is Two Truly Better Than One?
This week, we looked at the Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 text, “Two are better than one… for should they fall, one can raise the other; but oh no! for the one who is alone and falls with no companion to raise them!” Garinim started off our learning on Tuesday with a trust fall activity. Kiddos had the opportunity to fall with a…
Welcoming Warm and Fuzzy Feelings!
Another beautiful week at Makom has come and gone. As we worked through themes of companionship, helping, and the mitzvah (commandment) of the essential Jewish prayer, Shema. I observed so many moments of growth and learning this week. During snack time learning, we tested out our peace walk. Learners have been creating this resource to support problem-solving with agency when…